Today sees the start of the 5 day meet at Royal Ascot with some cracking races, as usual, ready to be enjoyed by punters up and down the country, including Her Majesty, of course. However, it is day three, that we at the Free Bets Blog are concerned with and that oldest of Royal Ascot races, ‘The Gold Cup’.

The highly impressive, Yeats, will be looking to cement Ascot folklore, and win the race for the fourth consecutive year. Many Royal Ascot betting punters feel that this is a Gold Cup too far for Yeats and will no doubt be under serious competition from Geordieland and Patkai.

At the moment, the early money for the Royal Ascot Gold Cup winner seems to be on Yeats (9/4) but the odds are shortening on Veracity, owned by Sheikh Mohammed who also has Eastern Anthem and Sagara running in the race.

For those looking for a little side bet then you can get William Hill taking bets on the colour of the Queen’s hat on Ladies Day on Thursday, with yellow the favourite at 4/1.